Bill Moyers: How ordinary people can fight ‘Citizens United’
By David Ferguson, Saturday, January 21, 2012 20:24 EST
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In this clip, commentator Bill Moyers answers a question frequently posed to him by viewers — “How can ordinary people fight ‘Citizens United’?”

The controversial Supreme Court ruling enshrines the notion of “corporate personhood” into law, giving companies many of the same rights and protections as U.S. citizens, allowing businesses to pour unlimited amounts of money into influencing political contests.

Moyers urges viewers to believe in themselves as agents of change, to stick together and understand that there is real power in numbers. He quotes an African proverb, “If you want to walk fast, walk alone. If you want to walk far, walk together.”

He concludes by giving contact information for two organizations fighting the “Citizens United” ruling, Move to Amend and Free Speech for People.

Watch the clip, embedded via Moyers and Company

THU JAN 26, 2012 AT 10:49 PM PST
Fighting Citizens United
byProgressivePatriotPA
LINK

There is something we all can do to fight Citizens United.

Earlier this month, the City Councils of Los Angeles, NYC, Oakland, and Portland all passed resolutions opposing the SCOTUS decision that gave the free speech rights guaranteed by the US Constitution to corporations.

Each of us has a county and/or municipal government (well, unfortunately excepting parts of Michigan) with locally elected officials - be it made up of City Council members, Township Supervisors, County Commissioners, take your pick - that ought to be following suit.

We the People need to be pressuring them to do so.

At the meeting of the Monroe County Democratic Committee tonight I asked the Chair of the Monroe County Progressive Democrats (a group I unexpectedly became Vice Chair of at our last meeting) Sue Lyons about the prospect of our group trying to get similar resolutions against Citizens United passed by the various townships across Monroe County, PA (we have no cities). She thought it was a great idea and that we should get started right away.

Right away couldn't have come sooner, because it just-so-happened that in the very same room was recent party-convert Stroud Township Supervisor Ed Cramer, who had just given a campaign speech for the PA Senate seat he's running for and who I was already acquainted with (I attended the twice-a-month Stroud Township Supervisors meetings before work prevented me from doing so, and always asked questions).

Tonight, I asked him about how I would go about getting the Stroud Township Board of Supervisors to officially bring such a resolution up for a vote and how he might be inclined to vote on it. He told me that if I could bring the resolution to one of their public meetings they would look at it and possibly vote on it immediately (some language may have to be amended depending on what Sue and I come up with, but hopefully not), and that he would support it.

The Monroe County Progressive Democrats are going to be working to come up with the resolution and get it passed by Township Boards of Supervisors across our county. Once we have some measure of success (at least a small amount can be assumed because Monroe is a heavily Democratic county), I will be going about the business of contacting the 66 other county-wide Democratic committees across Pennsylvania to urge them to do the same.

Patriotic citizens across the country should be active in this fight, as many already are. Look into your local government and, especially if it has a majority of Democrats, look into getting them to pass a resolution in favor of an amendment to the US Constitution that fights back against the influx of corporate money into politics that Citizens United has wrought. There's work for all of us to do. Let's get to it.

"Mere passive citizenship is not enough. Men must be aggressive for what is right if government is to be saved from those who are aggressive for what is wrong. There is work for everyone. ... The call comes to every citizen - it is an unending struggle to make and keep government representative."

- Fighting Bob La Follette